It could have been worse
by Orca.dancer.3
Summary: Well, he'd looked worse. Not for a while but yes, he'd definitely looked worse. He surveyed the wreckage with a critical eye looking at what could be repaired or replaced when he noticed an unusual pattern of blood around the door. Just what had happened last night? You'll have to read to find out. (T for violence reference and some shouting)


**Hey, I've not tried a short one before. Please review and give it a rating out of ten (10 being the highest e.g 4/10 or 6/10)**

**Enjoy!**

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He groaned as his vision blurred back to normal. Everything was hurting. More than usual. He winced as he tried to stand and then sat back down closing his eyes.

"_Any second now…"_ He thought to himself. And, sure enough, there was that familiar CRACK! as one of the bones in his leg snapped back into place. That one always took longer to get back to normal; Remus assumed that was because he'd broken it at school so it sat a little differently.

Pulling on his pyjama pants he checked for any serious injuries he'd given himself and sighed. Well, he'd had worse, not for a long time but yes, he'd defiantly had worse.

He took the top with the long sleeves and pulled it over his head to conceal the worst of the gashes on his arms. No good would come from her seeing exactly what had happened, it really wasn't her fault. He berated himself for not having told her that adding sugar renders the entire potion useless, and for constantly complaining about the taste.

He rubbed his eyes and prepared to stand, noticing that there seemed to be a lot more blood than usual near the door. He cocked his head to the side, that was odd; he didn't usually try to get out, just damage things. Like himself.

He went to get his wand then walked back into the room to clean and repair it. This done he slowly descended the stairs into the kitchen, snarling with every step. Damn that leg!

As he entered there was his wife bustling about tidying up her own breakfast. She had a bowl, a cup, a plate and was trying to clean the work surface at the same time. He smiled to himself, knowing exactly what was about to happen. And it did. There was a swishing noise as she brushed past a jar of sugar and sent it flying down to the floor as she deposited her burden into the sink. He stopped the sugar with a flick of his wand then went to pick it up out of the air.

Finally noticing him there she smiled and moved towards him kissing him on the cheek. "Morning." She said cheerfully but not too loudly so as to hurt his sensitive ears. It was the little things like this that made him love her.

"Morning." He said quietly, startling himself with how husky his voice was.

"Breakfast?" she asked and picked up a plate from the worktop, moved it over to the table and dropped it.

He gave a worn smile at her. She smiled back and blushed a little. More on her left cheek than her right. A lot more. He straightened up and she, seeing his gaze, shook her hair from behind her ear so that it fell about her face.

It was too late, though, and he stood and walked over to where she was putting away dishes.

"What?" she asked with slightly forced curiosity.

"What happened to your cheek?"

She looked down. "Nothing, nothing's the matter. Why do you ask?"

Very gently he put his hand under her chin and lifted her face so that he could see. With two fingers he brushed the hair behind her ear and nearly choked.

Stretching from the bridge of her nose to her ear was an angry red line that must have come from the mercifully shallow slash that she'd tried to heal herself.

"Oh, I must have tripped this morning, you know how-"

"_Why_?" He asked with so much pain in his voice that she couldn't keep up the lie any more.

"Well…"

"What were you thinking? I mean, are you so unhappy that… Do you want to die, is that it? Were you looking for a way out?"

"No! I swear I was nothing like that!"

"Then help me to understand. Do you need me to leave when it happens? I can go if you want me to-"

"NO!" she shouted again, dangerously close to tears. "You can't. I couldn't cope. I love you too much."

"Then why would you come in?" He asked harshly, struggling to keep his voice down.

"Because I can't stand seeing you in pain-"

"But I'm _not_ in pain! That's not _me_!" he'd given up on voice control now. Could she not see sense? "There's a reason I lock that door, Dora! Do you think I do it to hurt myself?"

She had started crying and warm tears were pouring down her cheeks. "I know it can't be stopped, but I know that I made it worse because of what I did and I couldn't forgive myself. The way you screamed…" she choked on the words.

He pulled her into him and kissed the top of her head. Despite the anger that he felt right now, partly due to the ache that still resided in his body, his heart melted out of concern for her. "You didn't know. It wasn't your fault."

She breathed in as if to contradict him but he cut her off. "No, listen, I should have told you. What you did was so sweet and kind and I'm so grateful. I didn't tell you about what sugar did to it and it's my own fault for moaning about it all the time. Ok?"

She sniffed and smiled a little. "I'm still sorry." She said meekly.

"That's ok." He said. "Just promise me one thing, though, if it does happen again, and I'm not saying that I think you're trying to poison me or anything," she chuckled a little. "but,_ please_, do not open that door. I have no idea how I'd live without you. I couldn't bear it if it hurt you. Let it scream, I don't care. I don't remember it when I wake up and it's not a part of who you married. Just think of it as the insane neighbour who pops by once a month."

She sniffed and smiled again at his black humour. She pulled away slightly, still holding on to him, and dried her eyes. Her fingers caught the end of the cut and she involuntarily winced.

His expressing dropped a little and he stroked her cheek. "You want me to fix that for you?" he asked gently.

She sighed. "Sure." She said and he took out his wand.

"Could you just move your head forwards a little?" She moved her face closer to his. "A little more." She obliged. "Little more."

She moved forwards again and he leant down and kissed her on the nose, smiling.

She laughed. "What's funny?" He asked her.

"Maybe you need glasses. You get so close and then you miss. See."

She moved back towards him and kissed him, putting her hands into his hair. He put his hands on her waist and lifted her up in a circle.

They laughed together as they broke apart.

Setting her down on the worktop he leant in and whispered "I love you."

"I love you more." She whispered back.

He smiled her favourite smile. "Not possible."

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